THE BLACKER THE BERRY: NYAS BERRY AND THE SNOW QUEEN!

The blacker the better the sweeter the juice!  Especially when it's young, tender & dark-skinned like the teenaged Ananias "Nyas" Berry of the famous dancing Berry Brothers. Valaida Snow certainly thought so!  In a move that would hardly draw censure today, she snapped the young Berry off the vine and married him, perhaps bestowing upon him a liberation that he was not otherwise likely to experience so early. 

Whatever! This was a move that was nothing less than scandalous in 1931.

Some say that Nyas Berry was 18 years old when he married Valaida Snow, but the documentation suggests that he was just 16 years old when the met.  In any case, the world-renowned, already world-weary Valaida Snow was nearing 30.  But they had more than a little bit in common and it's likely they were attracted to each other when first they met.  They both had been extremely talented & precocious child stars accustomed to public adoration and they could vibe on that level.  They had traveled extensively at very early ages throughout the black theater circuit and abroad, and they both had domineering fathers who held them under contract well into adulthood.  In Valaida's case, her father died when SHE was a teenager.  Nyas had yet to demand his emancipation!  Nyas Berry was young, handsome and full of ... juice!  Valaida Snow was a lusty young woman willing to help him overflow his cup!

Over in Paris, back in 1929, when Nyas and his brother James were the youngest cast members in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1929, Valaida saw their act at the Moulin Rouge.  By 1931, they were working the same stage in another Leslie-produced show, Rhapsody In Black.  This show would turn out to be Miss Snow's star turn, but in the meantime, she was also busy turning out young Nyas Berry.  In all honesty, he probably wasn't all that innocent.  After all, he just happened to be a teenaged boy who happened to be very handsome and who just happened to be around a lot of beautiful young chorus girls everyday.  Regardless, when Ananais Berry Sr. found out about it, he wasn't having it!

The elder Berry went on a rampage and declared Snow out of order and out of bounds by messing around with his young son.  The summer of 1931 was a rough one for the couple as Father Berry campaigned to destroy the relationship.  Backstage whispers say that part of the reason he was so upset was because HE was interested in Miss Snow and she spurned his interests.  It's also very likely that he knew if the relationship deepened and continued,  his son would soon declare himself a MAN and possibly mess with that contractual mealticket!  But let us note that Ananias Sr., also had Valaida Snow under contract at the same time.

If Valaida found Father Berry a formidable presence, she didn't know the meaning of the word until she came up against Miss Ethel Waters, her co-star in Rhapsody In Black.  Up until this time, Waters and Snow were close.  Valaida was one of Water's few close female friends who wasn't one of her lovers!  It wasn't until they appeared on the same stage as co-stars that Waters had a change of mind about the friendship.  She was quite vocal, and I'm sure quite demonstrative in her displeasure of Lew Leslie's insistence on making Valaida the STAR of the show!  It all seemed to be too much for Valaida; while Rhapsody In Black was in a run at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre, she attempted suicide by drinking iodine at her swank Sugar Hill residence on Edgecomb Avenue. 

Three months after having her stomach pumped at Harlem Hospital, she and Nyas were wed in December of 1931.  Father Berry was the last to know!  Mrs. Valaida Snow-Berry decided to leave Rhapsody In Black and took the Berry Brothers with her!

Nyas Berry took to the press to declare his love and support for his wife despite his father's ongoing mission to destroy the relationship. Papa Berry still had them both under contract and he booked them apart to keep them apart!  It was working! On the road, Valaida Snow entered into a well-known affair with pianist and bandleader, Earl Hines.  The press took note of it but she denied it.  Years later, Earl Hines confirmed it!  With the suicide attempt, charges of robbing the cradle, the incessant rumors plied to the press by Father Berry, and now an adulterous affair, Snow's image as a torrid tabloid queen was now under way.  In an article titled "Ma Berry has no love for son's wife" Mother Berry soon added to the fracas when she declared "If what we read of Miss Snow's carrying-ons is true, she should be ashamed of herself.  We hear that she goes to plenty of wild parties and acts most disgracefully" she told the Baltimore Afro-American.

In a last ditch effort to save their innocent son from the clutches of the immoral Miss Snow, Father Berry reached back in time and found an ex-husband of Valaida's who declared to the press that they were never divorced.  He arranged to have Snow summoned before a judge in Media, Pennsylvania - the site of the marriage - on a charge of bigamy.  Valiada then took to the press to declare herself the victim!  Not to be outdone, the ex-husband, Sam "Nappy" Lanier also took to the press to declare HIMSELF the victim!  For the most part, Nyas Berry stayed out of it other than to side with his wife and temporarily break up The Berry Brothers dance duo. 

The newspapers stated that Father Berry had his son arrested for breach of contract while finally having Valaida arrested for corrupting the morals of his teenaged son. Nyas responded by writing a publicized letter denoting the fact that it was actually his mother who swore out the warrant for his arrest and that his father actually fabricated Snow's arrest to the press to further destroy her reputation.  "She was not treated as nicely by my own people as they have treated  some strangers" he lamented.

In October of 1933, Valaida was arrested on a second charge of bigamy in New York.  She was acquitted later that month, but the first charge in Media, Pennsylvania took another six months and that judge found her guilty!  He fined her $100 with a year's probation, declared her first marriage still in effect, rendered her marriage to Nyas VOID, and was warned not to live with him until her first marriage was annulled.  Not to be deterred, Mr. and Mrs. Nyas Berry capitalized off their public image and took a brand new show on the road - a show that eventually found her on stage not only with her husband, but with her MAN, Earl Hines!  No matter, Nyas and Valaida later remarried in Crown Point, Indiana.

In a matter of a few years, Valaida and Nyas were touring Europe as the stars of yet another Lew Leslie production, Blackbirds of 1935.  Once back home, there were reports that Nyas, now in his early 20's, had fallen in love with a chorus girl closer to his own age.  There were also rumors that he was seeing Duke Ellington's star vocalist, Ivie Anderson behind her back.  He also fell back in step with his brother James, and with the addition of their younger brother Warren, the Berry Brothers were back in business as a trio. Valaida went back to Europe where her success rivaled that of her fellow expatriates, Jo Baker, Adelaide Hall, and Elisabeth Welch.  From her new homebase, she announced to the press that she planned to marry again - as soon as she could get rid of Nyas!

Valaida Snow did not return to America again until 1942.  While in Europe, she created such a public stir and found herself entangled in a situation that would become forever a part of her legend.  A situation that I plan to explore very shortly in another post.  But as soon as she did return, Nyas Berry filed for divorce!  While she was away, The Berry Brothers experienced perhaps what is known as their peak years of entertaining.  In 1938, they participated in a now legendary "dance off" with their friendly rivals, the fabulous Nicholas Brothers ... 

At an appearance at the downtown Cotton Club, the Berry's devised a memorable finish that would oddly become MORE associated with the Nicholas Brothers in the latter film, Stormy Weather.  Fayard and Harold Nicholas worked the crowd to a frenzy with their tap acrobatics and great polish.  More a "flash" act, the Berry Brothers knew how to thrill them as well.  However, at the last minute, Nyas and and James started to run up the side stairways onto an elevated balcony over the heads of the Cab Calloway orchestra.  They took a flying leap, twelve feet out onto the stage below where Warren was still dancing.  Warren completed a backwards, flip-flop twist and in perfect synchronicity they landed simutaneously in splits. 

 In top hats and tails, The Berry Brothers were the picture of elegance and are remembered as one of the greatest acts of stage and screen. Their brilliance is forever on display in such 40's musicals as Lady Be Good and Panama Hattie with Lena Horne.

As the oldest, Nyas Berry was the heart and soul of the Berry Brothers.  He spent some time in WWII, but injury and fast living - the level of which is said to rival his ex-wife's eventually slowed him down.  In 1951, the very married Nyas Berry died at the home of a girlfriend, dancer Bertie Pilgrim, after attending a baseball game between the Giants and the Yankees.  He had a heart attack in the shower.  He was just 39 years old.

This is the second of a series of four posts as it relates to the legend of Valaida Snow.

 

 

Comments

[Greg]

All I can say is WOW!, double WOW! What a story. But I don't blame her, that boy was fine! And he does indeed look full of juice.

By the way, do we know which building on Edgecombe Avenue she lived in? Was it 409 or 379? I just compiled a listed of famous Harlemites who lived in Sugar Hill. Now of course Thanks to you Corey, I'll have to revise the list.

[Corey]

@Greg! I'm sorry to say that I don't know her Edgecombe Avenue address, but if I find out along the way, I'll be sure to send you an email. By the way, would you like to share that list with me? How about sending it to me in a personal email?

And yes, young Nyas would have made me nervous, too!

[Greg]

Of course, I'll send it to you!

[Greg]

let me know when u receive it

[Jim]

This story had enough folds and convolutions for ten years of soap operas!

I suppose there are some people who imagine that scandalous goings-on are an invention of recent times. Well, these are probably the same people who think that their generation invented sex...

I’ve always had a theory that there is something called “body intelligence.” Part of that theory would imply that someone who could move his body with the subtlety and assurance of Mr. Nyas Berry might also have been quite subtle and assured in other physical endeavors, as well. And that could have been an additional facet to his allure.

I look forward to the next installment!

[Derrick from Philly]

Thank you so much for this series, Corey. I never knew anything about Valaida Snow. This is great. As much as I love the great Ethel Waters...I guess she was hell on wheels until she found religion. Then again, she might have gotten worse.

[jahlaune]

enjoyable read as the old ppl use to say "Nothing is new under the sun" but gee it just all seems classier 70 odd years ago

[Addis]

Corey,

Just wanted to say, what an incredible BLOG! The information that have chosen to share is right on point; your knowledge is needed and desired. Thank U

Addis-